A/N: Welcome to my first ever fanfiction! I am gggg336, or if you are looking for an easier time at calling me, just call me LST. I started this story just as I finish my semester 2 examinations in my school today (8.8.2014). This story/trilogy is probably just a way for me to spend the 2 months or so semester break before I head off to my final semester. Anyway, enjoy the story!
All characters, place settings and other items belong to their respective copyright holders, Bethesda/ZeniMax Media Inc.. Characters that do not appear in the original content of The Elder Scrolls (OC, or original character) that bears a name similar to other popular story character names and/or character behaviour and attitude are purely coincidental.
Prologue
The night was quiet around Solitude's docks, the air cool and not a cloud in the sky. Brushing off a bit dust from all the horseback riding, the Dragonscale clad assassin dismounted from the back of Shadowmere and head through the empty pier.
She was one of the Dark Brotherhood's remaining members after Astrid apparently tried to stab her in the back by informing the Emperor's personal guard, the Penitus Oculatus, of the plans to assassinate the Emperor. Had she not arrived a few minutes early, she would probably be the only member left, well, except for that jester she spared back in the Dawnstar Sanctuary. She went by many names in the province of Skyrim, Archmage of Winterhold, Harbinger of the Companions, Guild Master of the Thieves Guild, Lord of Volkihar Keep, Legate of the Imperial Legion based in Skyrim (sometimes she wondered if she single-handedly defeated the Stormcloaks as the soldiers she fights with can barely fight), Thane of [all nine holds apparently], Skaal Friend of the Skaal in Solstheim and, just a few hours ago, the Listener of the Dark Brotherhood, what's left of it anyway. But she had always being known by one tittle universally, and that is Dragonborn. On a more personal level, she just preferred to be called by her real name, Janice S., the Khajiit (A/N: I tried, but I have no idea what to name a Khajiit). She was never told what the 'S.' is in her name; she just remembered her mother saying it represents something important and that it would be known when the time comes. She was born and raised in Skyrim, having not known just how harsh the sandy deserts of Elsweyr are.
Walking down the pier, she was about to jump into the freezing cold water and swim towards the Emperor's ship, The Katariah, when she spotted him. The very one who had tried to kill her when she was escaping the trap with the fake Emperor and had ordered the hit on the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary in Falkreath.
"By the gods... you! But it can't be. You're dead. You... Yeaaaahhhh!" Commander Maro screamed as he unsheathe his greatsword.
The swung greatsword heads towards the Dragonborn without warning. She managed to duck in time before pulling out her Ghostblade and swinging it at the Commander's knees. He collapses under the injury, but has no will to give up. Swinging his greatsword again, he found that the greatsword has struck something that looks like a pale yellow ancient dinner plate just before he felt a sword slice through his neck.
With that out of the way, the Dragonborn swam towards her objective.
Sneaking around a ship full of guards might sound daunting to an untrained person, but Janice has always been known to somehow disappear in front of a group of people just by squatting. She made her way around the lower decks, killing off all the guards that she hears, even that guard that is slacking off in his bed. She made her way to the deck of the ship, swiftly dispatching every guard with her Daedric Bow. Balancing along the mast, she somehow had expected to find a sword stuck at the end, the knowledge of such a sword seems weird to her, just as her knowledge of what is a follower is. Picking up the sword, she head towards the Emperor's Quarters below deck, unlocking it with a key she found on one of the dead guards. After the lengthy discussion with the Emperor about how he wanted her to stab the contractor in the back, she pulled out Mehrune's Razor that she always had with her as an emergency dagger and proceed to slice his throat open.
Little did she know that this job would see her facing down the Thalmor's own army chief a few years later as the Empress of the Empire.
[Time skip]
After all the talk about buying some furnishing for the Dawnstar Sanctuary, Janice head home to Lakeview Manor in Falkreath. Dumping all that she had looted from the late Emperor's ship and some gems she found on the traitor's body, she changed into what she normally wear, a black, incredibly heavy set of armour that glows red in several places as well as a helmet that completely covers her face (A/N If it isn't clear enough, it is the Deadric armour set). This time, she just wore the three body pieces of the armour, the helmet left forgotten on her bed. She has bright yellow eyes, the mark of a vampire, as well as a long snout, more animalistic looking than most people of her race. She had three big scars running between her eyes, a mark from when she tried to wrestle a sabre cat when she was just 8. She had won easily against the unware sabre cat with just a dagger, but it did some pretty heavy damage to her before she managed to stab it in the throat. She has some black war paint that resembles a tiger on her face and down her neck. For her hair, it was of shoulder length with a thick silver ring wrapped around a lock of hair in the middle. Her hair was jet black in colour, not a common colour among her race and she wore a couple of golden earrings on her ears. Her pelt was quite light in colour and it shimmers in the light at certain angles. The part which makes her stand out the most was the fact that she was abnormally taller than other members of her race, as well as being incredibly skinny and frail looking. That last fact proved to be the downfall of many of her enemies who would dare underestimate her skill in combat. She had once bested a bandit chief unarmed for only reasons that she knew. The poor man got his face punched in, his neck almost snapping clean off before he died. Unfortunately, the only witness has been Lydia, her first housecarl.
She had two adopted children, apparently found by the same mysterious knowledge as she found Windshear, the sword stuck on the mast of the late Emperor's ship. One of them was working in the stables in Solitude and the other was selling flowers in Windhelm for food. Blaise and Sofie were their names, they are always so eager to get their mother or father to show them how to battle that Jancie has to stop asking Derkeethus (A/N if only there were vanilla marry-able Khajiits, oh well) to follow her and stay at home with the kids. Even then, they would also pester the steward, Janice's housecarl for Falkreath, to cook for them. With a very well equipped kitchen, you would think that is not hard, but the poor Redguard, who's only training is how to smash people's head open, had failed to cook anything resembling a meal and had to resort to purchasing meals from the inn all the way in Falkreath town.
As she strolls downstairs, she instructed the bard to sing "The Age of Aggression". She went into the kitchen to fetch a bottle of blood and some apple dumplings for her lunch. As she walked out, her two jumpy, hyperactive children ran straight into her, both hugging a leg while trying not to stab themselves on the spikes those Daedric boots sported. Almost startled, she nearly dropped the food she was holding before managing to steady herself.
"What the hell is going on?!" She screamed over the bard.
"Daddy is angry at us for not practising our sword skills in the cellar", replied Sofie.
"Then where did you practice it honey?" Janice asked, trying to hide her vampire fangs.
"In our room", Blaise replied mischievously.
Just as Janice was going to outright screamed at them for practising in their room, a furious Argonian stormed over, not noticing his wife, picked them up by their collars and dragged them into their rooms and slammed the door shut. Before long, all Janice could hear were the children screaming for mercy. She sat down and begun devouring her meal like it was her only meal for weeks. She flipped through her journal to realized that she had given Alduin a lot more extra time to recuperate than she had wanted to. Afterall, she had thought, she wouldn't want to go after Alduin right after she had defeated him on the Throat of The World; there is no challenge in killing an enemy that had been weakened just a few hours before. Hurriedly tossing the empty Potion of Blood and wiping her mouth, she ran upstairs to grab her Daedric helmet and checked that she had all her weapons ready. For some reason, she had plenty of weapons with her at all times, these include her famous Ghostblade she used to kill just about anything, Valdr's Lucky Dagger that she obtained from helping some random guy in the woods as she worked her way to Sunderstone Gorge to study part of the Fire Breath shout she is all too fond of using, Mehrune's Razor that she kept with her at all times for stealth kills or as an emergency back-up weapon that she never really needed, a random pickaxe she found stuck in an ebony ore deposit at the very peak of the Throat of the World, somehow it has an unique enchantment and was named the Notched Pickaxe. She also carries the Poacher's Axe she found in Halted Stream Camp, a Daedric Bow she found in a chest in a dragon lair and a Daedric Greatsword that she forged and enchanted herself, she calls it the Silencer as the greatsword has killed many enemies in one single almighty sweep. Attaching her trusty Ghostsword to her left hip, she pulled out a pale yellow coloured dome-shaped shield that could be mistaken for a Dwarven Shield but is instead a Daedric artefact given to her by Peryite. With Spellbreaker in her left hand, all she needs to do now is attach the quiver holding her arrows and head out through the front door. Just as she was about to open the front door, she forgot that she needs to tell Derkeethus that she was leaving, this time to save the world, again. After all they had been through, Derkeethus was quite worried for his and her own safety since trouble always seem to find her; he remembered that one time where Miraak's cultist had seek her out just so that they can try to kill her. Derkeethus had not expected to be dragged along to Solstheim, but, for once, he was glad that he was not the one who has to fight together with her against the first Dragonborn. Janice later shared her memories of fighting Miraak with him and he was still uncomfortable with the fact that she was just nonchalantly hitting him with the Ghostsword while Miraak was busy casting deadly spells at her.
[Time Skip]
Janice finally made it to Whiterun, the nice cool air of the night settling within Whiterun's many districts. She headed inside Breezehome to find Lydia had cooked some dinner. As she wolf down the venison stew, she heard Lydia welcoming her back home. Going up, she found, not that it was surprising, Lydia sitting on a chair facing the master bed in the master bedroom. Having lived in the tiny house before she found enough money to buy Proudspire Manor in Solitude, she had always find it creepy that Lydia would just sit there almost 24 hours a day staring at the bed when she wasn't needed as a traveling partner. So, with the comfort that an always vigilant housecarl can provide, she drifts off into sleep.
Waking up to the sound of people walking outside her home, she quickly grabbed some food, bid Lydia farewell and rushed over to Dragonsreach where she found a very impatient looking Jarl.
After getting clearance, she entered the back of the castle where the old dragon trap was located. Jogging towards the balcony, she shouted Ohdaviing's name to the skies. She then grabbed the stupid guard standing in the middle and threw him into the building just as a red dragon dipped its claws in an attempt to grab the guard. Using Dragonrend out of instinct, the dragon landed on the balcony and started to advance towards the Dragonborn who was carefully retreating backwards with Spellbreaker shielding her. The trap came down when Ohdaviing was under it and trapped him like it did the last dragon. After some heated debate over Ohdaviing's loyalty towards Alduin, the Dragonborn saddled her ride over to Skuldafn.
Slashing this way and that, she soon found herself in Sovngarde. After meeting the first tongues and looting everything lootable inside the hall as well as using the Unrelenting Force shout to scatter all the golden wares, she headed outside to deal with Alduin.
She hacks away at his tough black scales as Dragonrend pins him to the ground and his jaws are currently busy dealing with the ancient heroes he once fought. As Alduin begins to visibly weakened, a light came down from the bright star overhead engulfing Alduin and temporarily blinding the Dragonborn as well as sending the heroes over the waterfall.
As she backed away and recovers her sight by looking away, she heard an almost faint angry voice that seems to be directed against Alduin and it didn't seem to want anybody else hearing it. Curious, she decided to eavesdrop.
"Alduin, my son, you have disgraced me…" The voice said like an angry father would to a son who had done something shameful to his father.
"…Your punishment…" She wasn't able to make out the whole conversation, but she did seem to put together the little pieces and it seems that the voice, Akatosh's, as she presumed, is exerting punishment upon the dragon.
"Your punishment", it repeated it a second time as it sounds like it was going to regret doing something, "is to follow the Dragonborn and her family as a pet dragon until you learn to appreciate the world better!" Upon hearing this, she was taunted to snap her head towards the light and stab the dragon dead, but before she could move, she was blown back.
From her crumpled position on the rock formation in the middle of the battleground, she saw the light begin to change colour as well as getting smaller and thinner. As she stood up and walked over to a small black shape lying unconscious in the pool, she noticed that the big black dragon was much smaller than it was before, about the same length from head to tail as her height. It was also much more feminine looking, though she dismissed the thought that Akatosh has changed his sex to go along with the punishment. Picking it up, she motioned to Tsun who has been standing idly at the bridge, watching in amusement. She asked him what had happened and his only reply was that the Gods seem to want Alduin to redeem itself, before he quickly taught the shout to summon the heroes to her and send her back.
Slowly standing up from the teleportation, she suddenly jerked her head up upon hearing the death chant of Alduin from several dragons in front her. Still holding the black shape that was formally Alduin, the World-eater, she shouted them for them to stop and listen to her.
"I know that you may be mourning the death of Alduin, but Alduin isn't dead. He seemed to be cursed by Akatosh to serve as a pet dragon to me. As evidence, I would like you all to take a closer look at who I might be holding." With that, she turned and let Paarthurnax examine the body.
Paarthurnax's eyes widened soon much that Janice thought his eyes might fall out upon recognition of the unconscious dragon. "But… How…" Was all he blurted before the body started to wriggle.
As Alduin's eyes blinked open, the rest of the dragons had already flown off; not caring if their previous leader had, in fact, been turned into a house pet. Only Ohdaviing and Paarthurnax remained on the peak. Janice quickly set the dragon on the ground.
"Ohdaviing? And Paarthurnax?! You traitor! Come here… Wait what is wrong with my voice?" Indeed, Alduin's voice was no longer the deep sounding voice that he used to speak in; it was now sounding much more feminine and light.
Janice, Paarthurnax and Ohdaviing just watched on curiously as Alduin checks itself over. Upon finishing, Alduin seem to be close to tears as it went over to the word wall and sat with a wing over its face, faint sobs coming from underneath. Edging Paarturnax with his wing, Ohdaviing whispered something to the old dragon. Janice just stood there emotionless, just like every time she witnesses something that she doesn't seem to understand.
Paarthurnax bend his neck over to the dragon and spoke "What is wrong, brother?"
Alduin just sobbed some more and said shakily "I… I am your sister now, father seem pleased with cursing me so."
The two dragons and a Khajiit just let their mouths hang open while Alduin proceeds to wail.
After quite some time of non-stop wailing Alduin finally stops and slow made her way towards Janice, now sitting on a rock across from the word wall. Paarthurnax and Ohdaviing just stared, still not getting over the shock of something like that happening to their once great master.
"So…" Alduin started after a moment of contemplation.
"Yeah?" Janice said in an almost uncaring fashion.
"The curse, I don't know..." Alduin started.
"Yes, I know about it, I overheard it while you were being transformed. It said that you have to serve my family until you develop a sense of appreciation for this world." Janice stated like a newsreporter.
"As for you turning into a female, I don't know what that is about", Janice continued after getting an inquisitive look from the dragoness.
"Alright then, let's see what I can do in this form. I hope flight isn't hampered; it is the most useful thing after all." Alduin said.
With that, Paarthurnax and Ohdaviing begun to descend from their position and went over to the dragoness, looking sorry. "It must be hard for you to take all this in bro- sister", Paarthurnax said in a soft voice.
"Don't be sorry, I have already gotten past it. By the way, Paarthurnax, you still owe me, you traitor. As for you Ohdaviing, you will be punished by taking her to Skuldafn when I get my powers back." Alduin threatened, but that just made the two dragons laugh.
Seeing she isn't going to be taken seriously, Alduin took off and smiled that she could at least fly. She flew to the top with Janice climbing up there to join her. She landed and begun summoning whatever magic she still wields within her and spit out a pathetic fire ball. Janice decided to humour her and summoned two fireballs using her Incinerate spell on both her hands and chucked them in the direction of the two laughing dragons.
"HEY!" Both of them screamed after getting burned by the potent spells.
Alduin just chuckle as she flew down to get ready for departure. Hearing the commotion, the Greybeards apparently had trekked up the remaining distance and was gawking at the fact that there is a small feminine black dragon hovering above two angry looking dragons looking up at the Dragonborn who was making her way down. Arngeir decide to approach Janice as she start to walk down the path towards the monastery with the dragoness in tow. "What is going on and who is this?" He practically demanded.
"This is Alduin, she was cursed into this following her defeat at my hands. She is to serve me as a pet. She was just discovering what she can do when powerless like this and it made Ohdaviing and Paarthurnax laugh like crazy people, so I blasted them with some fire." Janice explained.
"I was NOT DEFEATED!" Alduin bellowed.
"Sure you aren't", Janice said teasingly.
Meanwhile, the Greybeards just stood there dumbfounded while Janice and Alduin pushed past them.
A/N: What a long write up this had been, I had never written this long before in a single sitting. Don't forget to rate and review! Tell me what you think about this new story direction and give me constructive tips in improving my writing. I wasn't really able to find any story relating the fact that the Dragonborn is supposed to be crowned the Emperor/Empress, so I decide to write one myself. Anyway, if you wish to find out more about the story and future stories, feel free to go over to my profile page where I had listed a small (depends on how you define small) list of things I am going to put into the stories. But, of course as with any other things related to stories, movies, games, etc., SPOILER ALERT!